Page 216 of The Hopelessly Bromantic Duet
I nominate me.
“William, I would sayyou’re a rock star, but clearly I’m going to need a new analogy. What’s the next-level compliment when someone does something amazing? Got anything, TJ?”
TJ taps on his chin. “Obviously, the only higher pinnacle than rock star, movie star, or sports star is... wait for it... writer!”
Everyone laughs, then Christian peppers William with a few more questions about his upcoming tour. William is popular enough to headline European tours on his own, but Stone Zenith is on another planet. Playing with him will blow up his fan base.“We take off in a week. We’ll be hitting Barcelona, London, Vienna.”
“I’m so sorry. That sounds awful,” Christian says drily.
“It’ll be dreadful, I’m sure,” William says with a smile.
Before Christian can flirt even more, the movie star steers the convo back to us. “So, you two were roomies once upon a time, I read somewhere?”
“It’s all true,” I say.
“Every word,” TJ echoes.
Even when we faked it, the stories of us have all been true, including this chapter unfolding tonight, here with friends—where we don’t have to pretend at all.
A little later, Christian parks a hand on my shoulder. “What’s the deal with your rocker friend?”
A man should work hard for a number, so I feign innocence. “Oh, why ever would you ask?”
“Is he single?”
“That’s a good question,” I say. Admittedly, I was worried for a while that William was trading one vice for another—liquor for men. But it’s not my place to decide. Still, I can ask him about his romantic status. That’s what a friend would do. When Luke and Jason descend into a rabbit hole of baseball predictions with TJ and Christian, I pull William aside by the doorway. “So, someone is kind of interested in you,” I say.
“It better be the American movie star who’s been giving me fuck-me eyes all night,” he says.
“Shockingly, it is. He wants to know if you’re spoken for. But I’m not sure if you’re taking a break from dating as you work on sobriety.”
With a sad but resigned smile, William sighs. “I’m trying not to get involved right now. I want to focus on recovery.”
“Good on you. That makes sense.”
“But I’ll get his number. For down the road,” he says with a smirk. He saunters over to Christian and pulls up a chair next to him. They chat for a while, flirting too—not-quite accidental touches, welcoming grins.
The evening winds down, and TJ snaps a few pics of the six of us before Luke, Jason, and Christian make their way out. William, TJ, and I linger a while, then leave together, wandering past the slot machines at The Extravagant.
“This was amazing,” William says. “Better than I imagined.” He gestures to the elevators. “But I should be a good boy and get some rest before the tour.”
TJ clears his throat. “How about a pic of the three of us? For old times’ sake.”
William’s eyes sparkle at the invitation into our world. “Hell yeah.”
TJ pulls me into the middle of the shot, with the games of chance behind us. My fake boyfriend stretches out an arm to snap the pic then shows it to us. “What do you think? Can I post it later?”
I blink, pat his cheek, as if verifying his identity. “Is this really you? You never post anything but coffee, music, and books.”
TJ’s all bashful as he says, “First time for everything.” His reaction is as adorable as these changes in him are wonderful.
William and I say yes, then TJ puts the image on his Instagram and captions it: “Once upon a time we were a barista, a bookstore clerk, and a finance reporter. Now we have new jobs but we’re still friends. The more things change... the more they stay the same.”
We say goodnight, each of us hugging him, no one caring who takes a picture now of the three of us. LetThe HollywoodScoopslap this on its home page. Let Rikki Finch blog about us. Let any fan splash us across a feed.
I’m tired of hiding both my friendships and my romance.
Once TJ and I reach The Invitation, he waggles his phone then makes a show of hitting the Do Not Disturb button. “I have no doubt Daddy will have a hissy fit over the selfie of the three of us, and I don’t care.”